MP's former aide admits data breach

The former parliamentary secretary of Bradford West MP George Galloway has pleaded guilty to a charge of encouraging her police officer husband to obtain emails without consent.

Aisha Ali-Khan, 33, who worked with the Respect MP, admitted the charge during a brief hearing at London's Southwark Crown Court.

Her husband, former detective inspector Mohammed Afiz Khan, 46, who was head of the Muslim contact unit at the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism unit SO15, has already pleaded guilty to two misconduct charges.

The pair were told they will be sentenced together on July 11.

The maximum penalty Ali-Khan can receive is a fine but her husband could face jail.

Ali-Khan today admitted that on or about August 24 2012 she encouraged Khan to obtain personal data relating to people she believed had sent emails.

She previously pleaded not guilty to a second charge of encouraging misconduct in a public office.

Khan was originally charged with two counts of misconduct in a public office and four counts of data protection offences between May and September 2012.

In December he pleaded guilty to a charge of misconduct in that he disclosed restricted information he had obtained relating to the arrest of radical Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary to Ali-Khan while she was employed by Mr Galloway on or around May 22 2012.

He also admitted a charge of misconduct relating to obtaining CCTV from South Yorkshire Police that he had no authority or good reason to obtain between March 16 and April 30 2012.

Khan pleaded not guilty to two data protection charges but did not enter pleas to the other two.

He was suspended from the Met after being charged in July last year and has now been dismissed.

The pair, of Keighley, West Yorkshire, were both given bail and declined to comment as they left the court.

A Met Police spokesman previously said their arrests came as a result of an investigation by the directorate of professional standards into a complaint from a member of the public about the actions of the officer.